It is well known to capture workload data from a data storage system for different reasons including analysis for troubleshooting or performance-related issues. A problem encountered in trace processing and analysis is caused by the huge amount of information contained in a captured trace. The longer the trace duration and more complex the box configuration the bigger the trace size. The typical trace size for several minutes of data collection may reach hundreds of megabytes. Because of the size constraint, the analysis program cannot hold all relevant data in computer memory. It would be an advancement in the art to solve these and other trace-related analysis programs associated with captured trace data.